Improved plumber s-hook blank



' llNiTED STATES PATENT Ormes.

BENJAMIN F. GLADDING, OF PROVlDENCE, RHODEv ISLAND,`ASSIGNOR TO ELLOTT P. GLEASON, OF NEW YORK CITY.

IMPROVED PLUMBERS-HOOK BLANK.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 49,343, dated August 8, 1865.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, BENJAMIN F. GLAD- DING, of Providence, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented a new au-d Improved Plumbers-Hook Blank; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in Which- Figure l represents the form of the blank piece of metal from which the hook-blank, Figs. 2and 3, is formed. Figs. 4, 5, and 6y represent the plumbers hook from the improved blank. Fig. 7 represents a vertical section of the former and die used to make the hookblank, Figs. 2 and 3, from the blank piece VFig. 1.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Heretofore the article of plumbers hookssuch as are used by plumbers and others for sup porting and fastening leaden pipe and plumbing fixtures and apparatus in and about buildings and structures of various kinds-have been separately forged from a straight rod of m-etal in theform of a straight tapering shank suitable for driving into the timbers and walls of buildings, 85e., with a flat support or hook extending at right angles from the dri ving end of the shank, which support, after being driven into its place, was bent over the pipe or fixture in the form of a hook. By the method of thus fastening the said hook by means of a hammer it is rendered weak and liable to break at the junction of the shank and hook-piece above mentioned in consequence of the form of the hook at this point necessarily resulting from the operation of drawing out and bending the metal above the shank flat and at right angles thereto, as above described, to form the hookpiece, the effect being to deprive this part of the hook of that fullness and strength of material which is preserved inthe shank just below, as Well as a liability to form what is called a cold-shut77 or crack in the bend ofthe metal, which is not likely to be discovered until the hook is driven or otherwise used.

This difficulty is entirely overcome by working the metal in the form of a blank containing the requisite quantity of material to form a single hook, which is so" disposed as to afford a fullness and depth at the bend to form a solid driving-shoulder of sufficient strength, and in combination therewith a dat hooked surface of more or less extent as a suitable support, such blank constituting a new article of manufacture of my invention.

This blank is shown in Figs. 2 and 3, andis formed from the angular piece of metal shown in Figfl, which may be clipped or punched from a sheet of metal of the requisite thickness, the angle at b furnishing the requisite quantity and prominence of material at that point to form the fullness of the drivin g-shoulder desired. This blank piece, `wh ile red-hot, is placed edgewise in the die G,Fig. 7, under a drophammer, with a suitably-shaped former, D, and

with a blow of the latter forced into the shape shown in Figs. 2 and 3, with the bend r at right angles, constituting the driving-shoulder, and formed without hammering or otherwisedisplacing the fibers of the metal so asto produce the cold-shut mentioned, at the same time insurin g that fullness andstrength of material in this part of the hook which is required to resist the force applied thereto in driving the shank into the material intended. The excess of material over what is required to form the drivin g-shoulder is flattened out upon the sides thereof, formingthe atteued surface S of the hook, after which the said blanks 4are again heated and the shan kstraightened at e and the hook curved at g, thus converting the blank into the improved hook shown in Figs. 4, 5, and 6, in which it will be seen that from the square shoulder b the shank merges into a stout rib, d, extending and curving at right angles therefrom over the flattened hook or support S, which is thus embraced within the angle so formed by the shank and rib, said hook presenting lnore or less extent of surface to embrace the soft leaden pipe, for which it is chiefly intended, and said rib Vd serving to stiffen the hook, as"`"wel1 as, byits formation, in conjunction with the shank, affording thereby sucha fullness and strength of material atjshe driving-shoulder as will resist any force that may be necessary to apply to drive the shank into the material intended or to withdraw the same therefrem, if desired, repeatedly, the position of its material substantially as dehook thus formed being obviously more subscribed. stantial and serviceable than the Construction heretofore in use. BENJAMIN F. GLADDING.

I claim- Y Witnesses: As a, new article of manufacture of my iu- ISAAC A. BUNNELL, vention, the plumbersbook blank, with a dis- SAMUEL BARRETT. 

